test-drb January 2002

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

303 participants
1201 discussions

DEC bus driver/receiver chips (really VT78 docs)

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

David Gesswein wrote: >I plan to have this all done in 25 years so you should be all set :-). I'm OK with that timescale ! >If you know the UK people need a particular portion of it let me know. I >don't have the time to scan it all in the near term. Email me the >request directly, with the list traffic I might miss it. Actually I only know of one other in the UK, but I expect there are a few more lurking in dark corners. Antonio

22 years, 5 months

PS/2 Model 70

by dittman＠dittman.net

> I found a couple of 2MB PS/2 SIMMs that I had stashed away and > put them in my PS/2 Model 70, so I now have 8MB of RAM. I haven't > cracked the password on the Xenix386 installation, but thought from > the discussion that OS/2 would be a better operating system to play > with anyway. I have OS/2 2.1. Would that be a good choice? If so, > is there a way to make floppies from the installation CD? I haven't > messed with OS/2 for a long time. Well, scratch the idea of OS/2; my CD has a big scratch in it and is unreadable. -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

22 years, 5 months

MCA SCSI 11H3600

by dittman＠dittman.net

I have an MCA SCSI adapter with IBM FRU 11H3600. All I've been able to find out is this is for either an RS/6000 or a PS/2, depending on the firmware. I can't find the reference disk on IBM's web or ftp site, and I can't find any way to tell which firmware is loaded without the reference disk. Can anyone help point me to the file? -- Eric Dittman dittman(a)dittman.net Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/

22 years, 5 months

OT- Job Seeking

by rhudson＠cnonline.net

Hi, I was laid off last november and I am still looking for work. I am a novell network administrator, and help desk support person. I have some hardware experience as well. If the place where you work is hiring my sort of person, please let me know. I am also looking for any short term 'warm body' type job in the San Jose, Sunnyvale, MT. View area. Thanks! Sorry for the off topic....

22 years, 5 months

Trailing-edge compute farm seeks gainful employment

by dhquebbeman＠theestopinalgroup.com

> >Ahh -- so what _do_ you call a guy who hangs around with a bunch of > >musicians? > > A drummer of course (as an ex-percusionist, I heard this joke almost > daily) :-) What a relief- I've always heard that "singer" was the punch line... -dq p.s. Would Everyone Here Kindly Step to the Rear And let a TENOR lead the way...

22 years, 5 months

Trailing-edge compute farm seeks gainful employment

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Lawrence Walker [mailto:lgwalker@mts.net] > And actually force people to learn how to spell without the > use of a spell- > checker. I remember how aghast I was when I learned my sons school Well, in defense of poor spelling, there are more important things -- such as content -- especially on a friendly list such as this. After all, tripe is tripe, no matter how correct the spelling. :) > allowed the use of calculators in math exams. Right On, Fred. ... and in defense of calculators, it's certainly more important for one to learn the theoretical core of mathematics so that it can be applied to Real Life than to waste time calculating things which are practically useless. The actual calculation is generally a mundane, but necessary step. Provided that you know how it's supposed to work, you can always arrive at the correct answer given some amount of time, with or without a calculator. Please don't take this as a defense of the public school system, which doesn't truthfully teach anything. > I was going to > reply to this would-be hacker's input but brushed it off as > more juvenal crap. I was tempted to respond too, but -- and this is the whole problem with the message -- there was nothing to which one could respond. He may as well have said "test message -- please ignore." Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 5 months

Trailing-edge compute farm seeks gainful employment

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Golemancd(a)aol.com > i agree u shouldnt try and read it > ps notice no capitals and not punctuation If thumbing your nose at this group makes you feel better it might be to your advantage to find out why. Personally, I'm curious as to why anyone would intentionally make their postings harder to understand than they have to be. > doesnt matter anyway If our understanding your meaning doesn't matter, why post? > sometimes i forget that computer folks r technical people. > i come from the arts where the only thing that is needed is > understanding. Hmm, I always thought most "art" forms required a modicum of technical ability. > i am on stage sometimes and all the musicians do is > just nod or look at each other and everyone understands them. What you are referring to is called a "cue." A cue is not a spontaneous, mystical form of communication. It is something which is worked out in advance, during rehearsal, and it is expected by the recipient. An example would be a look from a guitarist to a keyboardist which carries the meaning, "I'm done with my variable-length solo, so you may now begin your solo." This may or may not be actually spoken of in rehearsal, but it is still an agreed-upon, precise form of communication which is worked out in advance of the actual performance. As for "understanding," precision in communication fosters better understanding. This has been the entire point of the "Centronics/Crescent wrench" thread. > will try and and be more precise. i guess here that is needed. I think most people here would be happy if you just were a little less sloppy in your presentation, so that we can get a better idea of what you're trying to say. And if we don't like what you're saying we can always call you an ASS and be done with it ;>) Glen 0/0

22 years, 5 months

Any AMIGA users?

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) [mailto:cisin@xenosoft.com] > IRRELEVANT. > The discussion was how to make an Amiga disk using a PC. > It can not be done with the stock PC hardware. > Somebody said that it could be done with the stock PC, by using Linux. > THAT IS WRONG. Well, you don't have to shout. :) That statement would obviously be incorrect. (I admit that I missed this assertion the first time around) It can _possibly_ be done with a modified peesee, and it can probably be done with a couple of other machines unmodified (but still using linux and the normal floppy drivers). > The "standard linux floppy disk driver" will operate the > Catweasel card? > (It is NOT a floppy disk controller in terms of BIOS level > interaction.) I was under the impression that it would drive a catweasel card. I was not aware that the card was significantly different than other (normal peesee) floppy interfaces, though, so perhaps I got the wrong idea from somewhere. On the other hand, the linux "floppy driver" is, as I understand it, actually a collection of drivers, and the same code-base may actually be used to handle all manner of strange disk/drive setups. > Or > The "standard linux floppy disk driver" will do stuff that is > impossible > with the PC hardware, without needing the Catweasel? Obviously not. :) Well, not if you're running linux on "PC hardware." If you're running linux on, for instance, a Macintosh, it will read and write 400 and 800k mac disks, which is impossible on "PC hardware." ;) (Let's not get into that again, though...) > It WOULD be possible to write a floppy disk driver for Linux > that could > make use of the Catweasel. But it has, apparently NOT been done, and > therefore suggestions of USING that are inappropriate. True enough, and as I said, I've heard of no special catweasel driver; just that linux would operate the catweasel controller. Since I don't have a catweasel, I can't really verify that. > > Or ... one could write an amiga filesystem for linux. I actually > > wonder why this hasn't been done. > For use with linux on an Amiga? No, for use with hard disks, SCSI removable media, and the like, which could likely be transported without trouble. > Or are you trying to say that writing an amiga filesystem for > Linux, would > permit a PC running Linux to read and write Amiga disksettes without > special hardware? Well, for all I know, Amiga may have had a 1.44MB format which could work, but that's just a guess, based on the fact that Apple's works fine. > Could you also write one for NorthStar-DOS? (hard-sectored) Given a hard sectored drive, I would guess... (Or what about putting a soft-sector drive in the NorthStar?) It's a pretty normal format otherwise, right? > How about one for Apple-DOS? (GCR) That's more difficult. > How about one that reads 8" diskettes in a 5.25" drive? > (Maybe trimming > the edges, and not being able to read some outer tracks :-) Actually you might be able to get by with it in a high density drive, given some way of attaching the disk to the "spindle" of the drive, and provided that you didn't really want to keep the disk anyway (or possibly the drive!), and if you were willing to write mind-numbingly useless special-purpose software. Otherwise, I hear that CompatiCard will drive an 8" floppy ;) Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

22 years, 5 months

Crescent wrenches (was: Nomenclature (was: NEXT Color Printerfind

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman(a)theestopinalgroup.com> > Heh. Mexican speed wrench... Funny, I've always heard it referred to as a *Kentucky* speed wrench ;>) Glen 0/0

22 years, 5 months

Connectors (was: NEXT Color Printer find

by CLeyson＠aol.com

In a message dated 31/12/01 Tony Duell writes >> Most of the engineers I work with have never heard of Amphenol or Cannon, >Then I would suggest you're working with engineers who are not > particularly knowledgable about practical electronics. If they're (say) > mechanical engineers or civil engineers, then no problem. If they claim > to tbe electronic engineers I'd probably dispute that claim. I agree, last year they couldn't even build a set of LED Christmas tree lights without blowing them up, never heard of constant current drive !!! I'm not talking about graduates straight out of college but people who've been in industry for a few years. In the engineering department I work in there is only ONE other true practical engineer who lays out his own PCBs, is keen to learn about new and emerging technologies etc. He is, like myself, mostly self taught, and has a passion for this stuff - a rare breed these days. But there we are - pay peanuts and get monkies. > Far too many courses (in all aspects of science and engineering) miss out > the simple practical stuff. Without which the complicated stuff is essentially > useless.. Agreed, I believe any so called engineer should have a practical "hands on" experience in both hardware and software, after all if they don't understand the basics they are of little use. >> On the subject of D-sub connectors I've sometimes come across some with >> metric threaded jackscrews instead of the usual UNF thread, or is it UNC ? > I thought it was 4-40 UNC.... Thanks Tony, wasn't sure of the thread. > FWIW, the stnadard for HPIB jackscrews is M3.5 (metric). I've had to make > such parts on occasions. One HP manual I was reading recently said that > the instrument used metric screws on the connectors, and that a > conversion kit (presumably consisting of 2 jackscrews) was available for > converting older HPIB cables. So I assume that the original HPIB used UNC > jackscrews (probably 6-32). One day I will have to do a search for the original IEEE-488 standard just to see what they specify. I suspect that jackscrew threads are not part of the standard. Chris

22 years, 5 months

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test-drb January 2002